I spend hours in the kitchen preparing my social media post ready meals

There’s something I’ve been thinking about lately, especially when it comes to dietary changes, and it’s this idea that we somehow need to become Michelin star chefs overnight. We scroll through social media and see these beautiful, elaborate meals, and somewhere along the line we start believing that this is what it takes to eat well.

I’m one of those people posting those beautiful meals, so let me be real about something. I do not spend hours in the kitchen every day. I don’t have the time, and I wouldn’t have the patience either. My breakfast and coffee ritual in the morning takes me about 15 to 20 minutes. If it takes longer than that, I start getting irritated.

The real strength in what I do is not complexity. It’s staples. Staples in my fridge, staples in my pantry. What you’re seeing on social media most of the time are the same foods, just packaged differently.

Hummus is a perfect example. I eat hummus every single day. I make one big batch that lasts me up to three weeks in the fridge, and I’m not even joking. I just make sure there’s enough lemon juice in there to help preserve it. The same with basil pesto. The same with stocks. The same with beans. I batch cook beans and freeze them. My chest freezer is my best friend. My quick grab staples are my best friend.

Because the reality is, I am busy. I see clients, I create content, I build platforms. I don’t have time to start from scratch every day. So, I’ve had to become strategic about how I prepare my food.

Now the question I often get is, don’t you get bored eating the same things all the time?

And the answer is no, because the combinations are always changing. I might have hummus with caramelized onion and tomato for two weeks straight because it’s just that good. Then I’ll switch it up, add handfuls of fresh coriander or chopped basil, and suddenly it’s a completely different flavour. The base stays the same, but the experience changes.

The same applies to bowls. I keep a variety of ingredients in my fridge that I can mix and match. This serves more than one purpose. It gives me variety in my diet, which is incredibly important, and it keeps things interesting without requiring more effort.

(Variety in your diet directly supports your gut microbiome. Different plant foods contain different types of fibers and compounds, and each one feeds different strains of bacteria in the gut. The more diverse your food intake, the more diverse and resilient your microbiome becomes, which impacts digestion, immunity, metabolism and even mood.)

It also removes the pressure of feeling like you need to create something new every day. You’re not starting from zero. You’re assembling from what’s already there.

And then I’ll have people commenting on my meals while eating at McDonald’s every day, or the same bowl of oats or cornflakes every single morning. So, what is actually different? What is different between your meals and mine, other than the sugar hit or the bliss point you’re getting from those foods?

This is where perspective comes in. We tend to justify the habits that are comfortable for us. But at some point, you have to be honest with yourself.

I used to tell myself I didn’t have time. The truth is, I wasn’t making time. It was easier to outsource, easier to grab something quick, easier to stay in the habit I already knew. But that convenience was costing me in ways I didn’t want to look at.

At some point, I chose to make the time. I had to push through the resistance of getting into the kitchen, of prepping, of doing the things that felt like effort at the time.

Now it’s just part of my life. It’s not effort anymore. It’s normal.